Quick report
Around 6-8" of new snow was reactive over the old snow surface on test slopes greater than 35 degrees. Small slope tests produced a fast slough over a smooth sliding surface. The old snow surface that sat out during the week of northerly outflow winds was either a thick layer of sugary facets, or dense wind-packed snow.
Reactive new snow on small test slopes.Weather
- Air Temp
- 23
- Cloud Cover
- obscured
- Wind Loading
- previous
- Rain Elevation
- 0
- Recent Snowfall
- 20
- Snow Avail For Transport
- moderate amounts
Temperatures stayed below 32F. Precipitation rates at times were 1" an hour. A bit of fog rolling through and lifting.
Snowpack
Near the surface buried under the fresh deposits were either weak faceted snow over a hard crust or wind pack. Preserved terrain had a thick 10cm layer of faceted snow that sat out during the week of cold outflow. Wherever the north wind blew that away was hardpack with localized thinner areas that creaked skinning over.
At 2,200ft on a N-aspect HST20cm and HS380cm. The EOY crust was down 170cm. It is still faceted and softer than adjacent layers. In this area, the mid-pack seemed well-laminated and cohesive. A shovel shear could get the pineapple express crust down 35cm to break below after prying with no extended column results ECTX.